Media Monday Edmonton: Update #35

Here is my latest update on local media stuff:

• It’s official: Election Day in Alberta will be Monday, April 23. I love that Elections Alberta has embraced Twitter as a key communications tool. The candidates themselves think that social media is going to have a big impact on the election too. The hashtag to use is #abvote!
• Unsurprisingly, most of the local media have sections devoted to the election (let me know if I have missed any):
  • Battle for Alberta – Edmonton Sun
  • Election 2012 – Edmonton Journal
  • Decision Alberta – Global Edmonton
  • Alberta Votes 2012 – CBC
  • Alberta Election 2012 – daveberta.ca
  • Alberta Election – Metro Edmonton
• Here are a few more election-related links to check out: Election Almanac, Alberta Tweets, Get Out The Vote. Also, check out CBC’s Vote Compass. You can learn more about the application here.
• You undoubtedly heard about the unfortunate design of the Wildrose Alliance’s campaign bus last week. On Friday, they posted an updated design to Facebook with this message: “New and improved Wildrose campaign bus! We make mistakes, we fix them, we move on! Ready for the election! ~ Team Wildrose”. That photo has 717 likes, 199 comments, and 75 shares at the moment. Yes, I think social media is having an impact!

• The Edmonton Journal launched its redesign last Tuesday. The new masthead features the Caslon typeface in blue, the same one that was used in 1903 when the paper started. There are a number of layout and content changes as well. The online layout hasn’t changed too much, however.
• The third season of The Unknown Studio is now in the homestretch, and it’s going to go out in style. Adam and Scott are planning to record the finale in front of a live audience! They’re looking for input and ideas, so get in touch and tell them what you think. And be sure to check out S03E12.
• Paula Kirman has been posting photos of rallies and marches in our city for years, an important public service for Edmonton. As she wrote: “After a while, the website became one of the largest historical archives of citizen engagement in Edmonton at such events.” Now she’s taking the next step, and has relaunched her site with a new name – Radical Citizen Media.
• Garry McKenzie has been appointed Regional General Manager for Corus Radio Calgary, Edmonton, and Winnipeg, effective April 2. He was most recently the GM of Corus Radio Vancouver.
• Veronica Jubinville started at CTV Edmonton last week. She was previously at CTV Saskatoon, though she is no stranger to Edmonton having completed the Television Broadcast program at NAIT.
• Russell James is still heading to The Bounce, but won’t start until early May.
• Former Edmonton Journal reporter Steve Lillebuen was promoting his new book about Mark Twitchell in Edmonton today.
• And you thought you consumed a lot of news! Interesting profile of Rob Duerr, a CB and Ham radio repairman who is addicted to listening to police scanners.
• This new “Listener Driven Radio” service that Astral Media is deploying to Virgin Radio in April sounds pretty interesting. With it, you’ll be able to provide input and get alerts via SMS, instant messaging, email, and with social media sites like Facebook and Twitter.
• On Friday evening, Brittney is throwing a party to celebrate her 50,000th tweet! She will be just the 16th person in Edmonton to reach the milestone (at least four of those are bots, actually).

The race is on!

You can follow Edmonton media news on Twitter using the hashtag #yegmedia. For a great overview of the global media landscape, check out Mediagazer.

So, what have I missed? What’s new and interesting in the world of Edmonton media? Let me know!

You can see past Media Monday Edmonton entries here.